Annotation:Broke-Legged Chicken (1)

Back to Broke-Legged Chicken (1)

---

BROKE-LEGGED CHICKEN [1]. AKA – “Broken-Legged Chicken.” Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Cumberland Plateau (Ky./Tenn. border area), Arkansas. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. In the repertoire of the African-American string band the John Lusk Band (Ky.). The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. In 1951 some 90 tunes were recorded in the field from Skeeter Walden by Irene Carlisle and Don West, "Broken-Legged Chicken" among them. Walden was an acquaintance of Randolph's and perhaps his source for the Ozark tune. Drew Beisswenger (2008) points to similarities to other Ozarks tunes such as "White River," "Bear Creek Sally Goodin'," and "Old Charlie Deckard."

Source for notated version: Jim 'Skeeter' Walden (1879-1956, Busch, north Arkansas) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources: Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 151.

Recorded sources:

---